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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES P. ELLICOTT, OF VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. ASSIGNOR TOPHELAN & COLLENDER, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

IBILLIARD-TABLE-POCKET IRON.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,128, dated May 1, 1860.

To all rwho/m 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES P. ELLicoTT, of the city and county oflVashington and District of Columbia, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Billiard-Table- Pocket Irons; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in whichl Figure l, represents an end view. Fig: 2, a topview and partial horizontal section on the line y, y, of Fig. l. Fig. 3,a vertical section in line a', of Fig. 2. Fig. Ll, a vertical section inline fw, w, of Fig. 2. Fig. 5, a bottom view of the pocket iron, andFig. 6, a top view of the whole device, the black lines show the iron inthe position it occupies before the ball has struck it. The red linesshow the iron as it appears when it has yielded to the force of theball.

Similar letters of reference, in each of the several figures indicatecorresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists, lst, in a pocket iron of a billiardtable which yields when struck by a ball and regains its originalposition after the force of the ball has been spent. One advantage ofsuch a yielding pocket iron, is that it prevents the balls from leapingover the pocket iron when striking it with great force, in as far as thepocket iron while yielding absorbs the force of the ball and causes itto drop into the pocket. Another advantage of it is that it saves wearand tear of billiard balls. In the usual style of billiards, the pocketiron is stationary and the balls frequently entering with great force,soon cut through the leather covering and leave the iron naked. Afterthat, the balls when entering the pocket strike the iron and are therebyin jured and rapidly destroyed. It is evident that in a yielding pocketiron, the covering of the iron will not be near as much worn as in astationary one.

It consists, 2nd, in hinging the pocket iron to two arms combined withelastic washers and ball shaped nuts, for the purpose of allowing thepocket iron to yield with a parallel motion.

It consists, 3rd, in grooving the pocket iron so that the outer side ofthe pocket iron and of the rail of the billiard table shall be onecontinuous surface and a recess for introducing the netting `and elasticstrap formed and thus a neat iinish secured and the player notinterfered with.

' By this means, difficultl hazards and caroms can be played from thecorner as well as from the sides of the billiard table, which cannotbe'done Von the billiard table as heretofore constructed, where thepocket iron has to be raised above the level of the billiard table railin order to do away, as much as possible, with the injury arising fromthe concussion received from a ball going into the pocket with force andstriking aga-inst a surface which is stationary and not constructed toyield and thereby to consume the momentum of the ball. Independent ofthis height of the pocket iron, there is, in the usual'style of billiardtable, the thickness of the covering of leather added to that height.This increased height of the pocket iron and covering makes itimpossible for the player to play certain balls from the corners. On mybilliard table however, it will be observed, the covering only comes upto the upper edge of the pocket iron, and the upper surface of thebilliard table rail, so that balls can be played with equal facilityfrom the corners as well as from the sides of my billiard table.

To enable others skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The rail 7L, lz, of my billiard table has a recess r, s, for thereception of the pocket iron b, c, d, so that the surface of the pocketiron when the latter has been placed into said recess shall be levelwith the surface of the rail i., 71,. i

The shape of the top and outer side of the pocket iron is such as toform a continuous surface with the top and outer side of the billiardtable rail. This will be plainly un derstood from Fig. l, whichrepresents the top surface of the rails l1., 71 and pocket iron (Z, c,to be one continuous horizontal line; and from Fig. 2, which representsone continuous outline of the rails h, 7L, and and pocket iron d.

The diagonal sides u, a, u, u, of the recess r, s, (against which thesides u', u', of the pocket iron fit) are parallel, as will be seen fromFigs. 2 and 5, so that the pocket iron may be free to move out and in onthat diagonal line. The pocket iron is further guided in this directionby the notches fu',

in the under side of the pocket iron fitting over guide rails fv,projecting over the bottom of the recess 1", s. The notches and guiderails are alsol parallel to the sides u, u, of the recess.

Two arms la, 7c, are hinged to the underside of the pocket iron, as seenat j, Fig. 3. These arms extend through slots 7c', 7c', Vin the bottomof recess r, s, and through the solid frame p, of the billiard tablerail. The

under end Z, of each of thearms 7c, V7c,^is screw threaded and passesthrough a mortise o, in the underside of the frame p, and an indiarubber washer o, loosely fitting the mortise, is slipped over the end l,of arm le, and a nut m, n,.,is screwed over the end l, so as to bearwith its ball shaped top m, against the under surface of theindia-rubber washer 0. Whenever the pocket iron is struck by a ball withsuiiicient force to move it out onV its guiderails v, o, theindia-rubber washers o', yield sufliciently to permit the arms lc, toaccommodate themselves to that motion of the pocket iron, and theirupper endsto move backward in the slots c, while the Vtension of thewashers pressing against the nuts m, serves to keep the pocket iron downon its guide rails. The top surface of the nuts is rounded Vor ballshaped in order that no corners or edges of the nuts shall come incontact with and increase the compression of the Washers, while the armsswing in their slots. By means of this com-k bination of notches c,guide rails o, hinged arms la, elastic washers o', and nuts m, a perfectparallel movement of the pocket iron is obtained.

The pocket iron has on its inner side a semi-circular rim which inclinesinwardly toward the top surface c, of the pocket iron, as is shown inFig. 4. This rim isjcovered with a layer of vulcanized india rubber cz,a, of the quality used for belting so as to receive the blow of theball. The covering a, a, possessing a certain degree of softness, addstoward absorbing the force of the ball, 4in conjunction with theyielding of the pocket iron. Besides, the covering has the same inwardinclination as the rim b, of the pocket iron and its upper edge is levelwith the upper surface c, of the pocket iron so as to bend to deflect aball downward when being ber strap f, fastened to the billiardtableframe at bothends (as seenat'a, a', Fig. 2 is sprung over the rimb, in the groove c, and serves to throw the pocket iron back into its.original position and keepit tight to the cushions i, z', after it hasyielded to a ball.

The curtain g, is fastened to the strap f.

The ,upper edgesV of the curtain and of the netting, as well as theindiaA-rubber'strap, are all hidden-`in the groove, @,d, of the pocketiron, the outer rim d, and top o, of which form a perfect finish withthe railing of the billiard table.

What I claiml as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. A pocket iron of a billiard table substantially as described, so thatitmay yield when struck by a ball and regain its original position afterthe force of the ball has been spent, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. Hinging the pocket irons totwo arms combined with elastic washers andball shaped nuts, substantially as described, for the purpose ofallowing the pocket iron to yield with a parallel motion, as set forth.

3. The pocket iron, substantially as described, so that the outer sideof the pocket iron and of the rail of the billiard table y shall be onecontinuous surface, and a recess for introducing the netting and elasticstrap 'JAMES P. ELLICOTT.

Witnesses:

GOODWIN Y. ATLEE, R. W. FENWICK.

